THE INDIAN EMPIRE 315 (a) The slopes of the Western Ghats are covered with dense evergreen forests, and forests cover nearly a quarter of the whole region. The Ghats here consist of Archean rocks. ondicherry (French) Karikal (French) (French} COCHIN BRITISH COCHI, FIG. 159.—Political map of Southern India. For an explanation of the tints used, see Fig. 127. (6) The flat alluvial land -behind the sand-dunes, where the water of the streams from the hills is prevented from reaching the sea and so spreads out to form shallow